title: Hippocampal shape deformation in female patients with unremitting major depressive disorder.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The hippocampal atrophy of MDD has been known, but the region shape contractions of the hippocampus in MDD were inconsistent. Spheric harmonic shape analysis was applied to the hippocampus in female patients with unremitting MDD to evaluate morphometric changes of the hippocampus.
  
  
  METHODS
  Shape analysis was performed by using T1-weighted MR imaging in 21 female patients with MDD and 21 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. Manually segmented hippocampi were parameterized, and the point-to-point-based group difference was compared by using the Hotelling T-squared test. The partial correlation analyses were tested between clinical variables and shape changes.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Both hippocampal volumes were small in patients with MDD compared with healthy controls, and the right hippocampal volume was negatively correlated with the number of episodes at marginal significance. Regional shape contractions were found in the ambient gyrus, basal hippocampal head, posterior subiculum, and dorsal hippocampus of the left hemisphere. The right hippocampus showed a similar pattern but was less atrophic compared with the left hippocampus. A negative correlation was found between the HDRS and shape deformation in the CA3, ambient gyrus, posterior subiculum, and gyrus fasciolaris of the left hippocampus.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We showed atrophy and regional shape contractions in the hippocampi of patients with MDD, which were more dominant on the left side. The causes of hippocampal damage could be the hypersecretion of glucocorticoids contributing to neuronal death or the failing of adult neurogenesis in the dentate gyrus.
authors.affiliation: Neuroscience Research Institute, Kangwon National University School of Medicine, Chuncheon, Korea.
authors.forename: W S
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Tae
authors.forename: S S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: K U
authors.initials: KU
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: E C
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Nam
authors.forename: J W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: J I
authors.initials: JI
authors.lastname: Park
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001284:Atrophy; D001931:Brain Mapping; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008875:Middle Aged; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D055815:Young Adult